Policeman at deadly station shooting takes leave

Tracy JordanOf The Morning Call

Easton Police Chief Stephen A. Mazzeo hopes the state police investigation into the shooting death of a patrolman inside the police station Friday is completed within a week to relieve some of the emotional strain on the department.

Mazzeo on Sunday said the officer who was with Sollman when he was shot and other members of the Special Weapons and Tactical Team voluntarily took administrative leave because of their grief over the death of fellow SWAT member Jesse E. Sollman.

Mazzeo would not identify the officer who was with Sollman, but Mayor Phil Mitman acknowledged Sunday the other officer involved was Matthew J. Renninger.

Mitman said "there's been no determination" made about the shooting. The city has turned over the probe to state police and Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli.

The investigators have released no details about the shooting, but Morganelli said Sollman was shot while he and another officer were performing duties related to their police positions at the police station.

Mitman said he doesn't know if Renninger was the only officer present when Sollman was shot or who, if anyone, fired the weapon that killed Sollman.

"That's what the investigation will determine," Mitman said. "We're waiting."

Mitman said he intended to visit Renninger Sunday evening. He visited Sollman's family Saturday.

Renninger joined the department in February 1998, about four years after Sollman. He was a member of the K-9 unit, to which Sollman also had previously belonged, and to the SWAT team with Sollman and eight other officers.

The shooting apparently occurred near the end of the day shift, around 3:30 p.m., on the second floor of the police station after SWAT members returned to the station from a training exercise.

Although reports over police radios Friday said Sollman had been shot in the back, Lehigh County Coroner Scott Grim and state police investigators have not released details about the location or number of wounds or the type of weapon involved.

Investigators said the weapon was taken as evidence and it will undergo ballistic testing, which would determine, among other things, if it malfunctioned.

Sollman was taken by helicopter to St. Luke's Hospital, Fountain Hill, where he was pronounced dead within an hour of the shooting.

Sollman, 36, lived in Washington Township near Bangor. He is survived by a wife, Carin, and two young children.